The Chronicles of ::Koneko::
by Sevenity
Summary: Kyo has always been a freak to almost everyone in Konoha, until one day he meets someone just like him. He learns about her sinister past and begins to piece together the puzzle of his own origins, but the deeper he delves, the more he wonders if he would have been better off not knowing at all...
1. Kyo

**The Chronicles of ::Koneko::**

**Chapter 1: Kyo**

The boy ran after a wild rabbit, occasionally crouching on all fours to lunge at it.

_What big ears you have_, his mother thought, _soft and fluffy, too._

He seemed to be having more fun chasing it than trying to catch it.

_What sharp claws you have_, his mother thought, _like a ninja's hidden weapon._

The rabbit squeezed through a hole in the bottom of the fence. The boy swiped his hand through the hole in one last attempt to keep it captive.

_What a long tail you have_, his mother thought, _so gracefully it sways…_

His mother slumped onto the ground.

"Mommy! Mommy!" the boy cried out and rushed over to check on his mother. Her eyes slid open slightly.

"Mommy, go sleep! It's super hot out, and I can take care of myself! See?" the boy beamed, ran to the nearest tree, and proceeded to climb it as high as he could.

_What sharp teeth you have_, she thought.

Her husband came over to gently lift her up and bring her inside to the cool interior of their home.

"Makoto…" she whispered.

"I know," he replied, "please lay down, Riku. And don't worry about Kyo, he'll be fine."

She looked at his reassuring face and smiled. His dimples always made him look happier than he really was. Despite his words, she still felt uneasy.

"He's so excited for his first day at the Academy," she murmured.

"He's always been very energetic," Makoto said. He brushed back a few blond strands of hair from Riku's face.

"Do you think he'll scare away the other children?" she wondered.

"He's not that energetic—"

She gave him a knowing look. Makoto ran his fingers through his short brown hair. He still kept that habit even after he cut his hair. He sighed, "We already explained it to him. We can't keep sheltering him forever."

* * *

Kyo let out a sigh. He was lying on an open deck on one of his favourite rooftops. _Energetic, huh?_ _Whatever happened to me? _he asked himself. He looked to his right. _Probably because I hang out with this guy_, he thought. Readjusting his arms behind his head, he returned to staring at the clouds.

With the genin team assignments coming up, Kyo had been thinking a lot about his Academy years. He wondered if things would have been different if he didn't pretend to be so normal; if he had just accepted the way he is. If only his dad had just said, "look son, you're weird. People are going to point and laugh and talk behind your back, so get ready for it. Things are going to get a lot tougher from here on out." He remembered that day so clearly.

_Your hair looks funny.  
__How does it poke out like that?  
__Are those your ears?  
__HAHA, look, he has a tail!  
__Is it real?  
__Pull on it!  
__Eeew, his hands are hairy.  
__Your face looks weird. Were you born like that?  
__WAH! SENSEI, HE BIT ME.  
__Animal!  
__Gross!  
__FREAK._

Kyo had run out of the classroom with tears welling up in his eyes. The other kids had roughed him up a bit with all their poking and prodding. He heard a student yelling, "Aaaw, look who's gonna go cry to mommy and daddy now!" He hated the Academy after that.

Kyo tugged at his fingerless gloves, irked by the memory of his first day. He was finally going to leave the Academy now, and be a real ninja. He didn't need to worry about classes and tests and stares and whispers. He had gotten used to it though, and even if barely anyone was friendly to him, he'd still kind of miss the Academy. He sighed.

Nudging the guy next to him, Kyo said, "Eh, Shikamaru, I'm gonna head home now."

"Alright," Shikamaru said, "See you at team assignment tomorrow."

"Whaaaat, that's tomorrow?"

"Yeah, man."

"Geez." Kyo leaned back on one hand and rested his arm on his bent knee. He massaged his forehead.

"I thought you'd be excited. You hate the Academy."

"Yeah, I just thought I'd have… more time to think."

"About what?"

"I don't know. Life."

"Tch. You should be a philosopher, not a ninja." Shikamaru sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"A feline philosopher? Now that's ridiculous."

"Say it like that and you sound like a pussy," Shikamaru snickered.

Kyo punched him.

"Ow! You're just as troublesome as women sometimes, Kyo," Shikamaru said, rubbing his arm. Kyo punched him again, harder this time.

"Alright! I'll stop," Shikamaru exclaimed. They both glared at each other, then grinned. Kyo exchanged goodbyes with Shikamaru, then jumped down from the rooftop.

On his way home, the wind had picked up. Kyo liked to keep his blond hair short like his father's (he even dyed it the same colour once, too), but it had grown out some. He kept squinting and blinking his red eyes, trying to stop debris from making them even redder. He could feel his eyes getting irritated by bits of dirt. When he got home, he shut the door tightly behind him and headed for the bathroom after a quick hello to his parents. He rinsed out his eyes and washed his face. He looked up out the bathroom window.

_A storm is coming_, he thought.

* * *

Thanks for reading! ^.^ Please leave a comment, or a review if you have suggestions!


	2. Last Days

**The Chronicles of ::Koneko::**

**Chapter 2: Last Days**

Kyo stepped outside. The ground was still wet from the storm last night. Puddles looked like mirrors, reflecting the bright sky and corners of buildings. It smelled like rain and Kyo could feel that minty freshness in his throat and nose from the cold air. He took a deep breath, zipped up his leather jacket, and headed to the Academy.

The halls were empty and silent. As he got closer to his classroom, the boisterous sounds of his fellow genin grew louder. With his hand on the door, he gritted his teeth and prepared for one last barrage of insults. He slid the door open and walked in. The noise was nearly overwhelming. Everyone was excited and happy. Kyo, of all people, should have been happiest since the Academy was his living hell, but some things will never stop hurting.

An incessant barking could be heard the moment Kyo stepped in. He looked over at Kiba and Akamaru, usually the first ones to strike.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Kiba yelled, "Oh wait, that's YOU! How'd it feel lugging your pathetic mousy self here, huh?"

A large portion of the class laughed. Kyo didn't take offense to Kiba's insults anymore. Him being a part of the canine clan, of course they would be natural enemies. He understood that. He did the usual and just ignored Kiba.

"Oooh, leather jacket. Think you're tough stuff now, Kyo-chan?" Ino said sarcastically.

It was a running joke in the Academy that Kyo was secretly a girl. He was a sympathetic person and preferred to talk things out rather than fight. He had been accused on several occasions of being cowardly and incompetent. He was neither of those. He was heroic when he needed to be (ironically has retrieved a few runaway cats out of trees), and his ninjutsu and taijutsu skills were exceptional. No one wanted to accept that, though. He was constantly reminded of any fight he turned down or any task he didn't accomplish by his peers, but this would be the last day of that.

As he walked to the front where he usually sat, the others jeered him and laughed at him. He plopped down in his seat beside Hinata. He went through this nearly every day, yet it all seemed so much worse on this day. It's as if the closer he got to freedom, the more the burden of insults would grow.

"Hi, Kyo-kun," Hinata said with a worried look on her face. She could usually tell when he was having a particularly terrible day, as opposed to the usual bad days he would have.

"You look tired. I thought you'd be… um, excited for team assignments," said Hinata.

"I am, I am," said Kyo, "but, I don't know, I guess I thought people would have let off a little bit today. They seem worse than usual… or maybe it's just me. I just wanna get outta here."

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"It's not your fault, don't apologize," Kyo said as he lowered his head onto his desk. Hinata shifted in her seat, unsure of what to do.

Silence blanketed the room instantly, and then chaos erupted. Kyo looked up in time to see Naruto viciously attacked by almost all the girls in the class, and Sasuke standing up, heaving with rage. Some people were laughing, so whatever happened must have been funny. Usually Kyo would ask about it, but he was too depressed to do anything else but frown. His head went back down on the table.

Iruka-sensei calmed the class down so he could start listing off teams. Kyo wasn't even listening. He didn't even hear Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino get put on the same team. He was hoping to be on Shikamaru's team. He's the only one who seemed to not care about what Kyo was. When he heard his name, though, he snapped his head up.

"Team 17… Igarashi, Kyo. Funai, Yukiko. Matsuda, Ichiro."

Kyo groaned. Ichiro was part of a group that enjoyed pulling pranks. Mostly pranks on him, an easy freaky target. Kyo didn't know much about Yukiko, but since they never spoke he assumed that she hated him like everyone else.

"Funai-chan is nice," Hinata said, "I'm sure she won't be… as bad as Ichiro."

"Uh, thanks Hinata, haha," Kyo said with a forced smile. He appreciated it when she tried to cheer him up, even if she didn't do a good job of it.

After the team assignments were finished, Shikamaru walked over to Kyo.

"At least you didn't get Ino on your team. She would've ripped you to pieces," Shikamaru said.

"Heh," Kyo grinned, "I'll get some joy out of seeing you try deal with her!"

Shikamaru scowled, "Out of all the women here…"

"I HEARD THAT," screamed Ino. She stomped over and glared at Shikamaru. "You better not be a pain in my ass. More importantly, you need to quit hanging around this furball," she said as she jerked her thumb at Kyo.

"Annoying and bossy…" Chouji murmured.

"What was that, fatty?" Ino snapped.

Kyo sighed. It was still the morning and he still had to meet up with his team and his sensei. This will be a long day…

* * *

Kyo returned home in better spirits. The day didn't go well, but he was done with the Academy now. The only people he had to deal with were his teammates and they turned out to not be so bad. He found his father in the kitchen cooking.

"Otousan! I actually had a good day today," Kyo said with a genuine smile. "My sensei is great. Yukiko is pretty rude, but she doesn't make fun of the fact I'm a neko, and Ichiro doesn't have much of a spine without his gang. I think we'll get along well!"

"Mm, that's great Kyo," Makoto said absentmindedly.

Kyo frowned. Usually his father was ecstatic whenever he had a good day. Good days were rare for him, and because of his mother's condition, his father would usually be extremely energized to make up for his mother's lackluster. And the only times his father would cook is if mother was…

Kyo immediately headed to his parent's bedroom. He stood in confusion when he did not find his mother in bed with a cup of tea in her hands and a warm towel on her forehead. He returned to the kitchen.

"Otousan, where's Okaasan?" Kyo asked.

Makoto paused for a moment. He rinsed his hands, dried them, and then ran his fingers through his hair.

"Kyo, your mother is in the hospital."

* * *

Thanks for reading! ^.^ Please leave a comment, or a review if you have suggestions!


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